Clothesline pulley



Patented Dec. 5, 1939 CLOTHESUNE P William E. Veteran, Niles, Calif., assigner of onehaii to Joe N. Viveiros, Niles, Calif.

Application September 26, i938, Serial No. 231,785

2 Claims. (Cl. 2li-119.03)

The well known and common practice of hanging clothes to bedried on a fixed line is highly objectionable for several reasons. For instance it necessitates carrying all "of the clothes from the tub'to the line and moving the same from time to time as the clothes are hung; it compels the user to travel back and forth many times if the pieces on the line are collected as they dry'; it forcesv the user out into the open in all kinds of H weather; it necessitates securing the line to xed points without intervening obstacles.

With the above and other objectionable fea tures of a xed line in view, it is one object of the .present invention to provide means whereby L" clothes may be hung upon a line, or removed therefrom, without requiring the user to move from a given spot, enabling the user to place an article on any desired place on the line, and to remove any selected article from the line regard- 2@ less of its position thereon, without moving from Y a given spot. It is also an object of the invention to provide means whereby a line of the character indicated may be readily mounted vin a drying yard without interference by any obstacle therein such as a tree, and one that may be mounted upon any desired number of selected supports.

It is another object of the invention to provide means of the character indicated that will permit 3o the full length of the line to be used for the hanging of clothes, as distinguished from that type of pulley line upon which but one-half of the line can be used.

Finally it is an object of the invention to provide means of the character indicated that will be economical to manufacture, simple in form and construction, strong and durable, and highly efficient in its practical application.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a side elevation ofa device embodying my invention, partly in section and with parts broken away. A v

Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion of a device embodying my invention, parts vbeing broken away.

The structure when set upin a yard andready for use comprises a number of identical units, one of which will now be described in detail.

The one unit referred to comprises a bracket 5o as Iwhich may be mounted upon any suitable support 2 in any suitable manner as by bolts 3.

Disposed upon a vertical axis and mounted on the free end of the bracket I is a bolt 4 carrying a bushing 5, a washer 6 being inserted be;

tween the bushing and the.under side'of the bracket I which is channeled. as at 7. The washer is square and is kept from rotating by engagement with the channel walls.

At 8 is shown a pulley hub rotatably mounted on the bushing 5 and supported on its head E. 5 The hub 8 includes a concentric ange I0 upon which is bolted as at I I an upper circular plate I2 and a lower circular plate i3.

The upper 'plate I2 has a. central portion Id lying in a plane disposed at right angles to its l0 axis of rotation, and a peripheral portion I5 inclined upwardly and outwardly as shown, forming an angle at I6. Y

The lower plate I 3 is seated at against the bottom of plate I2 and extends out to the angle l5 I 6, where its edge is bent downwardly and curved inwardly as at il to form a groove i8 upon which the clothesline is to run.

Upon the bottom `of plate i3 are mounted a number cf spaced ngers it, the spac'e between each two fingers being indicated at 2Q. Each of these fingers I@ extends radially from plate i3 and at an angle thereto to underlie the bottom Y edge of the ange Il as at 2l, and to form a bottom extensionon groove It. gg

The clothesline 22 has stops as 23 mounted thereon and spaced apart substantially the same as the fingers IS. Between each two stops 23 Aand slidably mounted on the line22A is a link 2t) having another link as 25 swingably attached dit 'thereto as at 25, the link 2d carrying a clothes clamp 2. f

Obviously, a pulley of this kind can be placed on any suitable support in a yard and may vary in numberfrom two upwardly, and arranged to 35 encompass any obstructions that must be avoided. Since the pulley itself rotates ln a horizontalplane, or'substantially so, as many as desired may be distributed about a yard in the same horizontal plane, with a single line extending around all ci e@ them. The line cannot drop 0E of the pulley due to the arrangement of the lingers I9, yet the line 22 and the several hangers 2d can move x freely on the pulley becausetheiingers are so, spaced as to permit the hangers 2d to pass there- 45 between, the stops 23 maintaining the hangers 2d in position for such engagement.

It is to be noted that the side edges of each 'nger I9 converge to form a rounded tip on its free end, and that the opposing edges of adjacent fingers therefore converge inwardly and are widely spaced to freely receive the hangers 24. Since each hanger 24 can slide on the llnevbetween two stops 23 it readily takes itsL proper place between t'wo lingers on the pulley because it can slide down any edge it contacta.`

While the pulley is shown as being mounted upon a vertical axis the axis may be inclined s somewhat 'so the plane in which the pulley rotates will be inclined downwardly and away from the supporting bracket I to assist in maintaining the y line in its seat in the pulley groove.

It is to be understood, of course, that while 10 I have herein shown and described but one spe-v cic embodiment of the invention, changes in form, construction, and method oi' assembly and operation may be made withinthe scope of the appended claims.

L5 I claim:

l`. In combination, supporting means, a grooved pulley suspended therefrom to rotate about a vertical axis, said Apulley having one side of its groove formed into radially extending and spaced fingers i0 laterally inclined relative to the plane of the pulley, a line operable in said groove, said line having hangers slidably mounted thereon, and hanger stops disposed on the line and spaced thereon in accordance with the spacing of the iingerson the pulley.

2. In combination, supporting means. a grooved pulley suspended therefrom to rotate about a vertical axis, said pulley having one side o! its groove formed into radially extending and spaced lingers laterally inclined relative to the plane o! the pulley, a line operable in said groove, said line having links slidably mounted thereon`to depend therefrom, each link having another link swingably attached thereto, the second link having a clothes clamp mountedthereon, and hanger stops mounted on the line and spaced thereon in accordance with the spacing of the lingers on the pulley.

WIILIAMEVETERAN; N 

